IN THIS ISSUE of the Journal of Cardiothoracic and Vascular Anesthesia, we resurrect the section on “Emerging Technology.” Doing this is timely and relevant. As anesthesiologists participating in a generation of rapid progress in all areas of medicine, many of us believe that we are at a pivotal point in technological progress. Everywhere we turn, we see advances of which we would barely have dreamt 20 years ago: advanced robotic surgery, functional magnetic resonance imaging, minimally invasive cardiac output measurement, 3-dimensional echocardiography (OK, maybe we were dreaming of that one), and multiwavelength oximetry, just to name a few.
In this month’s issue, Dr Kevin Chung presents the “state of the art” in remote telepresence and robotics in care of patients in the intensive care unit.
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The advances that have been made in this area such as robot mobility, web-based video and audio, human-machine interaction, and transfer of medical information are truly remarkable. We are reminded that “intensive care from a distance” is much closer than we might have thought; in fact, it is happening right now. The author describes a human-sized robot controlled remotely via wireless broadband that can “walk” around (wheels); examine patients; review charts and flow sheets (video camera); speak with patients, nurses, and other physicians (microphone and speaker); and provide orders. One can easily imagine a situation in which the use of such a robot can decrease the manpower necessary in an intensive care unit; perhaps, a 20-bed intensive care unit can have 1 on-site supervising physician supported by a remote-control robot doing physical examinations, making rounds, adjusting ventilator settings, interacting with patients and staff, and representing an almost limitless source of “point-of-care” medical information.It is natural for us as physicians providing anesthesia and intensive care to wonder how such advances in understanding, technology, and implementation might someday apply to our practice. Perhaps our first inclination is to reject these ideas outright because many of our tasks are very complex and are under heavy time constraint. Certainly, we will always have to be at the operating room table continuously in case something happens, right? There is no way we will ever, EVER, be able to intubate, place an arterial catheter, and place a central catheter robotically, correct? Considering the current rate of progress, I wonder if we should be so sure.
It is difficult to resist reference to possible new TV shows such as “Lost in the ICU” and “Hospital Trek” in discussing the exciting possibilities of new technology. Apologies—you will notice that I could not resist.
We have high hopes for the section on Emerging Technologies and encourage input either in the form of letters to the editor or direct communication ([email protected]). If you have an area you would like reviewed, please let us know. We play requests!
Reference
- Robotic telepresence: Past, present, and future.J Cardiothorac Vasc Anesth. 2007; 21: 593-596
Article info
Footnotes
Gerard R. Manecke, Jr, MD, Section Editor
Identification
Copyright
© 2007 Elsevier Inc. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
